Ezekiel 31:2

31:2 “Son of man, say to Pharaoh king of Egypt and his hordes:

“‘Who are you like in your greatness?

Ezekiel 32:2

32:2 “Son of man, sing a lament for Pharaoh king of Egypt, and say to him:

“‘You were like a lion ¹  among the nations,

but you are a monster in the seas;

you thrash about in your streams,

stir up the water with your feet,

and muddy your ²  streams.

Daniel 11:42-43

11:42 He will extend his power ³  against other lands; the land of Egypt will not escape. 11:43 He will have control over the hidden stores of gold and silver, as well as all the treasures of Egypt. Libyans and Ethiopians ⁴  will submit to him. ⁵ 

Nahum 3:8-9

Nineveh Will Suffer the Same Fate as Thebes

3:8 You are no more secure ⁶  than Thebes ⁷  –

she was located on the banks of the Nile;

the waters surrounded her,

her ⁸  rampart ⁹  was the sea,

the water ¹⁰  was her wall.

3:9 Cush ¹¹  and Egypt had limitless strength; ¹² 

Put and the Libyans ¹³  were among ¹⁴  her ¹⁵  allies. ¹⁶ 

[32:2]  ¹ tn The lion was a figure of royalty (Ezek 19:1-9).

[32:2]  ² tc The Hebrew reads “their streams”; the LXX reads “your streams.”

[11:42]  ¹ tn Heb “hand.”

[11:43]  ¹ tn Or “Nubians” (NIV, NCV); Heb “Cushites.”

[11:43]  ² tn Heb “Libyans and Cushites [will be] at his footsteps.”

[3:8]  ¹ tn Heb “Are you better than Thebes?”

[3:8]  ² tn Heb “No-Amon.” The name is transliterated by NAB, NASB; many other English versions employ the equivalent “Thebes.”

[3:8]  ³ tn The relative pronoun אֲשֶׁר (’asher) is functioning in a possessive sense: “whose” (Job 37:17; Ps 95:5; Isa 5:28; 49:23; Jer 31:32; see HALOT 98 s.v. 4).

[3:8]  ⁴ tn The consonantal form חיל is vocalized in the MT as חֵיל (khel, “rampart”). The LXX translation ἡ ἀρξή (Jh arxh, “strength”) reflects confusion between the relatively rare חֵיל and the more common חַיִל (khayil, “strength”); see HALOT 310-12.

[3:8]  ⁵ tn Heb “from (the) sea.” The form should be emended to מַיִם (mayim, “water”). This is a figurative description of the Nile River: It functioned like a fortress wall for Thebes.

[3:9]  ¹ sn Cush is the Hebrew name for the ancient kingdom of Ethiopia (also known as Nubia) along the Nile valley south of Aswan in Egypt. Many modern English versions render this “Ethiopia,” but this area is not to be confused with modern Ethiopia (i.e., Abyssinia).

[3:9]  ² tn Or “Cush was limitless and Egypt was strong.” The NIV treats the two nations (“Cush and Egypt”) as a hendiadys of the predicate and translates them as one clause. On the other hand, NJPS treats them separately and translates them in two different clauses.

[3:9]  ³ tn Heb “Lubim.” Most modern English versions render this as “Libya” or “the Libyans.”

[3:9]  ⁴ tn The preposition בְּ (bet) in בְּעֶזְרָתֵךְ (bÿ’ezratekh) should probably be taken as a bet of identity rather than in a locative sense (DCH 2:84 s.v. בְּ 7; HALOT 104 s.v. בְּ 3).

[3:9]  ⁵ tc Although the LXX and Syriac read a 3 fs suffix, the 2 fs suffix on MT בְּעֶזְרָתֵךְ (bÿ’ezratekh, “your strength”) should be retained because of the support of 4QpNah, which reads בעזרתך. The MT is the more difficult reading and best explains the origin of the variants, which attempt to harmonize with the preceding 3 fs suffix.

[3:9]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew noun עָזָר (’azar) has been understood in two ways: (1) In the light of the Ugaritic root gzr (“hero, valiant one, warrior”), several scholars posit the existence of the Hebrew root II עָזַר (“warrior”), and translate בְּעֶזְרָתֵךְ (bÿ’ezratekh) as “in your army” (M. Dahood, Psalms, 1:210; P. Miller, “Ugaritic GZR and Hebrew `ZR II,” UF 2 [1970]: 168). (2) It is better to relate the Hebrew עָזָר to Canaanite izirtu (“military help”) which appears several times in the El-Amarna correspondence: “Let him give you soldiers and chariots as help for you so that they may protect the city” (EA 87:13) and “I have provided help for Tyre” (EA 89:18); see K. J. Cathcart, “More Philological Studies in Nahum,” JNWSL 7 (1979): 11.